Drawback with the new planner usage.
The consultant planner was terrific. I have used it extensively on an almost daily basis. That said; has anyone had any issues with the new look? When I research for a ward member to put together a lesson plan for a one-on-one experience, I fill in the lesson plan as I go, outlining steps as I have them on my screen. No more. When bringing up a plan, it replaces the window where I was researching and I have to make my way back through the person's tree through recents to find the person again and thereby lose the plan. Then back to the planner, then the person,then the plan, to type in a step and so on. It is the most cumbersome and burdensome way to record research steps. In the old look, a new window will populate with only my plan on it. I could then toggle back and forth between the two windows to fill in the research steps. True, I could do all my research and my lesson plans on my PC which has two screens, thank goodness, but what about everyone else? Any ideas?
I have given feedback about this concern on the site. Maybe there is another way to do it? I suppose that I could ask my laptop for a new window, then go to FamilySearch, and bring up the person's file in that, but I truly liked the auto loading of each plan in a new window. What do others do?
Answers
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Carole
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I totally agree with you.
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In fact, I always select the "Go to previous experience" to go to the "Old" style "Consultant Planner".
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Unfortunately, that option will eventually "Disappear".
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I am not adverse to "Change", where necessary; but, I am certainly adverse to "Change" just for the sake of "Change"; and/or, because of what the "Designers" and "Developers" THINK that WILL be best for us.
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"Change" in "Family Tree" of "FamilySearch", should be User/Patron DRIVEN; and, any up and coming design/development "Change", should be promulgated WELL in ADVANCE to use Users/Patrons, BEFORE it is implemented in the "Beta" ( "Test" ) Environment and, especially, BEFORE it is implemented in the "Production" ( "Live" ) Environment - in many cases it is not.
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Sadly, NOT all Users/Patrons (certainly NOT enough of them) are even aware of the "Beta" ( "Test" ) Environment
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'Yes', we WERE advised of the up and coming "Change" in that regard to 'Consultant Planner'. But, I am certain that a number (possibly, many) existing "Consultants" were not happy with the new style Planner. I just wonder how many actually gave 'Feedback'. That would be interesting to know.
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I always just wonder what "Focus Group(s)" of Users/Patrons that "FamilySearch" uses for the "Beta" Testing (if any); because, it certainly DOES NOT appear to be "Representative" of the "Majority" of Users/Patrons across the Globe (ie. World).
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Just my thoughts.
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Brett
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You are not alone. The previous planner outline is more useful for my purposes. I like the fact that when choosing the person, I see all the lesson plans, as well as the fan chart, immediately. I do not have to choose which I want to see to the exclusion of others. In addition I may have a separate window for each plan. This helps a lot since research is my focus on the planner. Sometimes I can build on a previous plan or add comments, updates or notes to each. Very user friendly.
The Family History Activities are a nice way for a member to begin to engage with family history. I do wish they were still on the front page, all discoveries together.
Then, on the planner, show add sources, add events, information needed, duplicates etc.
This would be a better step by step introduction to learning how to fish, since many of those hints take a lot of research to resolve.
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Have you tried duplicating the research/person page? For example, when on a person page of an ancestor right click and then click the word "Duplicate" . That way you have two person pages, so if you lose one while toggling back and forth to the planner page you still have the second duplicated person page. Let me know if that works.
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You might try a split screen? I have two monitors which helps me a lot when I'm doing FH, but you could do the same with just one monitor using a split screen.
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I always write my plans in Word. Then, when I'm done, I copy and paste the finalized plan into the Planner.
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Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions. I am happy to find some more workarounds.
My concern is mainly that the old format provided the easiest tools, except for the new auto save for the work input. Obviously, with an added auto save, we are expected to work in it. Now it is not as helpful. It automatically loads the first plan as well, instead of showing all the plans first for you to choose, creating extra steps.
Since the reason for the planner in the first place is to be useful for consultants, I feel that we should be able to give feedback and be listened to. Hopefully, it is still a work in progress and we can have some of the old and some of the new.
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Carole
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Spot on.
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Brett
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Carole, I too use the Planner on a daily basis and share your concerns. I prefer the old view than the new. For one thing, you could view the chart along with the hints and other items that needed to be done at one glance. The extra manovers that one has to do to research and work on the planner is combersome. I truly hope that as user, some one will listen.
Thank you for expressing it so well.
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What about using the planner in one tab and the tree in another tab in your browser?
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